Justice K. Dagat of the Federal High Court Maiduguri, Borno State on Wednesday, 18 June 2025 convicted and sentenced the trio of Enoch Adebayo Richard, Samdave Megwah(a.ka.a glorycyberfix) and Abdusalam Hassan to eight years imprisonment each.
The defendants were arraigned on two -count separate charges by the Maiduguri Zonal Directorate of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, for the offences of money laundering and impersonation.
The charge against Richard reads: “That you, Enoch Adebayo Richard between 2022 and 2024 at Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did directly take possession of United States of American Dollars denominated Cash App and Gift Cards worth about $4 (Four United States Dollars) from foreign Nationals like: Victor Adrian, Bernard, Stephanie Scott, Melda Sana amongst others, which upon conversion to naira amounted to an aggregate sum of N38,000.00 (Thirty Eight Thousand Naira) paid into your Opay Microfinance Bank Account No. 9015469104, (Enoch Adebayo Richard) being the naira equivalent value for the cash app and gift cards which you knew or reasonably ought to have known is proceeds of your fraud or form part of proceeds of an unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2) (d) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”
That of Megwah reads: “That you, Samdave Megwah(a.k.a glorycyberfix) between 2023 and 2024 at Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did directly take possession of aggregate sum of $600,00 (Six Hundred United States of American Dollars) into you Access Bank Plc account No. 1444073483 (Samdave Megwah) being the naira equivalent of N900,000,00 (Nine Hundred Thousand Naira) being the value for gift cards, cash app, paypal and bitcoin denominated in United States of American Dollars which sum you fraudulently received and knew or reasonably ought to have known is proceeds of your fraud or form part of proceeds of unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2) (d) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”
While Hassan’s charge reads: “That you, Abdulsalam Hassan between 2023 and 2024 at Maiduguri, Borno State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did directly take possession of aggregate sum of N451,000.00 (Four Hundred and Fifty-One Thousand Naira) into your Guaranty Trust Bank with account No. 0757111917 (Hassan Abdulsalam) being the naira equivalent of the cash app, paypal and gifts cards denominated United States of American Dollars which sum you knew or reasonably ought to have known is proceeds of your fraud or form part of proceeds of an unlawful act and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18(2) (d) of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act 2022 and punishable under Section 18(3) of the same Act.”
The defendants pleaded guilty when the charges were read to them by the court.
Counsel for the prosecution, Abdulmalik D. Aliyu prayed the court to convict them as charged while defence counsel A.K Hamman, A. Kolo and N.U Kwiza prayed the court to temper justice with mercy in sentencing the defendants.
Justice Dagat thereafter convicted and sentenced Richards, Megwah and Hassan to four years imprisonment on count one and two with an option of fine of N100,000.00 on each count.
The judge further ordered the forfeiture of the monies as well as iPhone 14 pro max, Redmi 13C, IPhone 6 Plus, Dell Desktop, Samsung galaxy A34 and Samsung Galaxy S to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
The convicts’ journey to the Correctional Centre began when they were arrested in Fori and Mairi Palace, Jere Local Government Area, Borno State following credible intelligence on their fraudulent internet activities. They were charged to court and jailed.
